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Vietnamese girl invents new economic model

Le Vo Phuong Mai, a Vietnamese student at the UK-based Cardiff University, has successfully defended her doctoral dissertation, which rejects the European-American economic model and introduces a more perfect one.

Le Vo Phuong Mai in her recent return to Hanoi.

Lookatvietnam - Le Vo Phuong Mai, a Vietnamese student at the UK-based CardiffUniversity, has successfully defended her doctoral dissertation, which rejects the European-American economic model and introduces a more perfect one.

Mai was born in Hanoi. She went to live with her parents in Saint Petersburg at the age of 12. She was always the best student in all grades when she studied in this city. After graduating from high school, she moved to the UK to join a preparation programme for university at Bellerbys school in Brighton city.

Mai was qualified to study at world-famous universities like Cambridge and Oxford after this programme but she chose to study economics at the CardiffUniversity because the programme in this university is shorter. She was the only Vietnamese student to rank in the highest position at the university. Graduating from CardiffUniversity in 2003, Mai was the first student allowed to study for a doctoral degree immediately, skipping the master’s level.

After earning her doctoral degree, Mai received a scholarship worth GBP200,000 or more than $300,000 for post-doctoral research on macro-economic models and monetary policies. This is a prestigious scholarship granted by the UK Ministry of Education to up to 15 candidates who research economic topics.

Mai used algorithms and data to analyse various macro economic models. She focused on developed European and American economies where the banking systems, monetary policies and financial experts have strong influences on the economy. Prof. Patrick Minford, who worked as an economic advisor to former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, helped the Vietnamese student a lot during her research.

In her work, Mai criticised some theoretical principles of European and American economic models. In her opinion, these economies could not develop fast because they used those models from World War II till 2004. She developed a new economic model for the world, based on the current New Keynesian Model and the old New Classical. Here research pointed out that the two models combined together would give better data.

The Vietnamese girl’s new model was presented in front of famous researchers. Many agreed with it while some opposed it, but they could not offer a better.

The work will be published in an economic magazine in the UK. Mai is conducting research on the housing bubble in the US and the current global economic crisis.

Mai recently returned to Vietnam to help outstanding students to find a way to enter the best universities in the UK, including Cardiff and Bellerbys.

She wants to return to live in Hanoi in the near future to contribute her knowledge to the country’s development. However, she is worried about being unemployed in Vietnam because it is difficult for a researcher like Mai to find a suitable job.

She also plans to return to Hanoi to organise a wedding party for her marriage to a British doctor of economics at CardiffUniversity.